Giants running back Saquon Barkley didn’t light up the stat sheet or find the end zone in Sunday’s 27-13 loss to the Broncos, but being on the field was a pretty big accomplishment on its own.
Barkley tore his ACL in Week Two of the 2020 season and his place in the lineup for the season opener wasn’t made official until Sunday morning. He ran 10 times for 26 yards and caught one pass for a yard while splitting time in the backfield with Devontae Booker.
That isn’t the role anyone envisions for Barkley, but he came out of the game healthy and thankful for the chance to be back on the field.
“I feel pretty good. It’s not my normal workload,” Barkley said. “Usually, I’d probably have a lot more plays, but that’s all I’m saying. Obviously, we didn’t get the win. We’ve got go back, watch film, address it and get better for next week. But at the end of the day, it’s a blessing that I was able to — it was a milestone for me, I guess that you could say. I put a lot of hard work to be able get to get back on the field and I was able to accomplish that. It just didn’t go the way we would’ve liked. Great thing is there’s 16 more of those things to come.”
The Giants have a quick turnaround for Thursday night’s game in Washington and Barkley said that he will “see how my knee responds and take it day-by-day” when asked about the plan for him this week.